Time to Shine for Celtics' Green

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/sports/pros_and_colleges/x1155165019/Time-to-shine-for-Celtics-Green


Time to shine for Celtics' Green




Tony Dejak/The Associated Press

Jeff Green upped his game in the playoffs last year and will be counted on to do more this season.




By Scott Souza/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Sep 24, 2013 @ 08:35 PM



MILTON —With the season on the line last spring, Jeff Green decided he was done deferring once and for all.

The Celtics were down 26 points early in the fourth quarter in Game 6 of the first round against the Knicks. A worn-down Paul Pierce was on the bench amid a 4-for-18 shooting night. A weary Kevin Garnett was slowed under the weight of playing 40 minutes in the post at age 36. A recovering Rajon Rondo had already left for Las Vegas to continue his rehabilitation from anterior cruciate ligament surgery.

Green decided it was his time to take control. Possession after possession, he drove to the basket and time after time he got to the foul line. He made it there 14 times on his way to a team-high 21 points. In the process, he helped the Celtics get all the way back within four points in the closing minutes before the Knicks pulled away for a season-ending, 88-80 victory.

Fast forward four months and the player who once struggled to find his role in green amid a cast of future Hall of Famers now has little left to defer to on the Boston bench. Garnett, Pierce and Jason Terry are in Brooklyn. Rondo is likely at least two months away from playing on his surgically repaired knee. The Celtics have a new coach in Brad Stevens, a long-term outlook, and they will be looking at Green to anchor that charge into the future starting with the opening of training camp Tuesday in Newport, R.I.

"When you start playing basketball that’s what you want," Green said Tuesday at the team’s Shamrock Foundation golf tournament at Wollaston Golf Club. "That’s what you work hard for to be called one of the go-to guys. This is what I dreamed about. It’s coming to fruition right now."

A year removed from open-heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm that cost him the 2011-12 season, Green upped his regular season scoring average of 12.8 points last year to 20.3 in the postseason. He shot 45.5 percent from 3-point range and fought his way to the foul line 45 times (shooting 84.4 percent) in six games under the bright playoff spotlight.

"The target’s on Jeff’s back now," Celtics guard Courtney Lee said. "Last year, we had KG and we had Paul. We knew those were going to be our go-to guys. Then we had Rondo who was going to make the play. Jeff was that guy who came along and showed everybody what he was capable of doing. Now everybody in the NBA knows.


"He’s going to have a big target on his back. Talking with him, I think he’s up for that challenge. Then everybody else is going to have to complement him."

To do that, especially under Rondo returns, Stevens said the team will need to run and leave it to Green to create plays in transition.

"He’s a guy with a high ceiling — as anyone can see," Stevens said. "He’s very good in the open floor. I think he can get even better both in the open floor and the halfcourt. And, I think, he’s hungry to do well."

Green said he spent the offseason conditioning in a way he could not fully do as he worked his way back from the heart surgery last summer. The 27-year-old said he is still riding the confidence high of last year’s playoff breakout, and has done film work to isolate ways he can improve aspects of his game ranging from his jump shot, to how he attacks the rim, runs the floor and works off screens.

"Last year, I was still dealing with trying to get back on my feet, get back on the court," he said. "This summer I had a lot more time to get in the gym. I took the time I had and made it useful by making each skill that I have that much better."



bob
MY NOTE:  As far as I am concerned this year isn't about Green getting "better", he's plenty good already, it's about getting "consistent".  Just show up and work hard every night, Jeff.  Every night.


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At least Jeff's aware that he deferred too much and needs a major turnaround in that respect. I believe he wouldn't have had to labor so hard at it in the second half of last season if Rondo had been around. Jeff Green was created to score easy buckets.

Sam